Desmond Child

Desmond Child (born John Charles Barrett; October 28, 1953) is an American songwriter and producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. He is the son of Hungarian father Joseph Marfy and a Cuban songwriter Elena Casals.

Desmond Child

Desmond Child performs as part of Lincoln Center's "American Songbook" series in February 2019

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Child's career started when he formed an R&B-influenced pop rock band, Desmond Child & Rouge in 1975 with singers Myriam Valle, Maria Vidal, and Diana Grasselli, backed by hired musicians. The band was known for their inclusion on the soundtrack to The Warriors in 1979, with the song "Last of an Ancient Breed", and for the Billboard #51 hit "Our Love is Insane". Their two albums received positive reviews[3] but sold poorly and the group disbanded in 1980. One member, Maria Vidal, had a hit in 1985 with "Body Rock".[4]

Desmond wrote the song "Believe in Me" to Bonnie Tyler in 2012 and one year later was selected as the Eurovision Song Contest entry for the United Kingdom. Following the contest, Tyler received two Eurovision Song Contest Radio Awards for Best Song and Best Singer, making her the first UK representative to win the award.

"Hour I", "The Game of Life", "The Future Never Dies", "You're Lovin' Me to Death", "321", "Love Will Keep Us Alive", "We Will Rise Again", "Your Last Song", "Love Is War", "The Cross", "Humanity", "Cold"

Desmond lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his husband, Curtis Shaw, and their twin sons, Roman and Nyro.[9][10] Child and Shaw's struggle to have a baby via surrogacy is recounted in the documentary Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro.

The track "The Truth Comes Out" from Desmond Child & Rouge's second album Runners in the Night (1979) was written about 'coming out' to his girlfriend and Rouge bandmate, Maria Vidal.

The song "A Ray of Hope", written by Don Paul Yowell, was recorded by Desmond as a tribute to his younger brother, Joey, who died in January 1991 of AIDS-related complications.

Hailing from Hungarian ancestry, Desmond received dual American-Hungarian citizenship in 2016.[11] Child recently released "The Steps of Champions" a song he wrote for the Hungarian government as the official anthem of the sixtieth anniversary commemorations of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.